Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Yesterday the 10-day forecast was full to the gills of sun and 80-degree weather. I was supposed to be happy (such a gorgeous September!) but. I've been known to resist happiness. And. I hit JCrew pretty hard last week (slash it hit me, why are pretty things so pricey?) and bulked up my sweater collection. And. It's fall. I love the fall. I'll be mad when it snows but I think I'm ready for the fall.

Oh. And something else: it might be that my life is awesome and blessed and I have most things under control (enough at least) and what's in order is not overriding change but, like, a deep breathe and a leisurely afternoon hike and a sigh of appreciation/relief. (Did this conclusion really take me by surprise? Again? Grrm.)

Thursday, September 16, 2010

This week/month/couple of months have been brilliant and difficult. I guess I want to apologize? Because it used to be I brought all of this swirl of uncertainty and joy and anxiety here (or here) to test and sort. I came to some good conclusions, I think, and am sort of proud of and delighted by the girl-woman-person I was [becoming]. But now, suddenly, everything feels so real and so personal. I feel like I'm developing into a whole new person and I'm wary of subjecting her to scrutiny too early, even to so small an audience as you--even I seem too rough a judge some days.

So. Yes, an apology. Or an excuse. Or maybe an invitation to give me a call? :)

Thursday, September 9, 2010

I'm sorry to announce that El Azteca has been taken over by evil yuppy demons who think that we prefer choosing black or pinto beans to some of the most reliably delicious Mexican in Utah Valley. Disappointing and gross is what my lunch was yesterday, and not just because I was in love with and abandoned by their veggie burrito. They were good at what they did and I'm not sure why they went tampering.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

--prospectus=very stressful (do your joints ever tense up from stress? You can't make any sudden movements and even your eyes sort of ache?)

--Cool stuff that happened today: James saved my life once. Trent (prof/graduate coordinator/friend) the second time (he gave me some very good and practical advice and the conclusion was that I might have something new to say about Dickinson. Which is news to me and terribly encouraging. I got a rough rough draft of something down (thanks again Trent!) and Susan liked it. A lot. And gave me some good advice. And so now we're moving forward.

--Something about stress relief techniques: diet coke (and the friendly girls at Crest). Slab. Chocolate in all forms. This blog which I'm not going to be ashamed of subscribing to because it's adorable and sometimes you need some baby foxes/mongeese/otters in your day. Great friends.

--Something also about the waxing/waning sense that Heavenly Father doesn't, in fact, have it out for me and is, in fact, working in and through my life in ways I didn't/can't/anticipate. This is very cool.

This is all the energy I have for a post right now so maybe you can add some wittiness and depth? In your mind? :)

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

We rolled into town Sunday at 4. Running on 5 hours of sleep (3.5 caught in half of the back of James' CRV [the other half was filled with our stuff. Neither of us remember anything between lying down and the bling of the alarm at 6 am] in the parking lot of a Motel 6, 1.5-ish on the road when we weren't keeping the other awake). Ward prayer, some unpacking (I ate a meal made by humans. I heard James ate a leftover blueberry cobbler MRE). I was up at 6 to finish some stuff up before teaching at 9.

Welcome back to Fall.

Fall is my favorite season. Today I'm wearing an aqua sweater and my blacks. Monday night I got to break out my kitten cardigan. After sleeping Tuesday night Business Kjerstin reemerged and started to work on the to-do list. Work on syllabi. Call the Financial Aid Office. Throw away a year's accumulation of student papers and handouts. Color-code my classes. Etc. etc. etc.

The week before Hawaii was pretty hectic. Graduation+family reunion+prospecti+moving+grading. Little sleep, lots of diet coke (remember when I was off for a minute?). We ended up speeding down to Vegas to make our flight in the middle of the night in the rain. I was chomping sunflower seeds and blasting Marina and the Diamonds and Vampire Weekend, chanting something about being young and reckless and alive. Lucky for us that corridor is made for speeding (if I go 95 from Cedar City to St. George I can make up for the 85 I have to go through the Arizona bit to survive the turns). Lucky for us the Nevada state line brings with it an extra hour and we were both distracted enough to be pleasantly surprised.

We slept on the plane (someone got sick? We had to reroute to LA? If sounds nightmarish and I only sort of remember it happening.) And woke up in Hawaii.

Palm trees! Balmy weather! Abandoned North Shore! We got a house a block away from the beach and spent the first couple of days napping in the sun and in the shade and in the sun.

We ate at Ted's and spent a lot of time at Sunset Beach (with like 7 other people) and swam with sea turtles (I had to step out of their way so they wouldn't wash into me. And they were huge and sad-eyed and adorable). We rode horses on the beach (I got a stubborn blonde who refused to do what I asked) and ate fresh garlicky shrimp and watched a lot of sunsets and picked guava from the tree outside our door for breakfast and did some PCC stuff and spent time in Honolulu and ate sushi and spam.

Hawaii was magical. Gorgeous. Perfect.

It was part one. Part 2 was even better though it was shorter and, um, more physically intense. We got off the plane in Vegas (having left one of our drivers on the island...it's a long story but ended well I think?) in the early morning. Ran to Walmart for food for backpacking and fuel. Ran some other errands (we stopped into Dick's Sporting Goods and almost napped in one of their tents. I bought a sunhat and a couple of water bottles for a dollar and fell in love with the new insulated aluminum straw-ed Camelback water bottle (It's soo pretty.) and decided I need more clothes that wick moisture. Then did we head for the trail? We meandered a bit and got there and packed and on the trail by 6 or so. Hike hike hike. We stayed the night just outside the village (Supai), headed in the morning, found our group, set up our hammock and went to sleep. There were falls and hiking and some brushing of teeth, but mostly mostly we napped.

We camped (illegally it turns out) next to Havasu falls--gorgeous red rock and aqua water and lush viney green out of this desert canyon. We all had hammocks and the people were great. I dunno. So quiet and beautiful.

Hiked out Saturday afternoon. Started driving at midnight or so (if we drive all night we can make 9:00 church bahaha).